


All They Needed

by YontifexMaximus



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Interfering with Relationships, Marijuana, Multi, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 09:34:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14566152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YontifexMaximus/pseuds/YontifexMaximus
Summary: Stardew Valley wasn't at all like Zuzu City. It was peaceful, but at the same time, there were no secrets. Nothing happened, but decades-old tensions simmered beneath the surface. Small towns had their own kind of charm when you made your own fun.The helpful kind, of course.





	All They Needed

Maru’s floor and desk were covered in tools, metal bits and bobs, and graph paper filled with diagrams and notes in her neat handwriting. The notes crept up her walls, taped up alongside star charts and posters. Nestled amongst the wallpapering of her hobbies was a single family photo.

It had to have been from a long time ago. From the colorful banners and lights, it looked like it was taken at an amusement park. Maru looked no older than seven or eight and was smiling, Robin and Demetrius standing behind her. Her brother Sebastian stood a few inches from her, eyebrows scrunched up like he had been dragged over and forced into the frame.

“Varsha,” Maru said, breaking her attention away from it. “What are you looking at?”

Varsha cocked her head at the photo.

“I’ve never noticed that before. When was that?”

Maru thought for a moment.

“I think it was Sebastian’s tenth birthday.”

Varsha couldn’t help but laugh.

“What the hell? I would have guessed anything else! He looks like his dog just died.” She went stock still. “Oh, no.” She whipped her head to look Maru dead in the eye, unable to fully suppress the grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Did it?”

“Pfft.” Maru stifled her laugh. “No, you dork. I think he was just having a hard time.”

He did indeed look it. Then again, Varsha wasn’t so sure that time had ever ended, based on the lengths he went to in order to avoid interacting with Robin and Maru. She saw him ducking his head down as he went through the halls. He wasn’t exactly sneaky.

The little boy in the photo was just as hunched over.

“Was this right after your parents remarried or something?” she asked.

“What do you mean right after…? Oh!” Maru waved her hand. “They got married before I was born. Sebastian was from my mom’s previous marriage, yeah, but not me. He was still really young when it all happened. We’re actually half siblings.”

Oh. From the way he avoided them, Varsha had assumed that he had never warmed up to Maru and Demetrius because they were stealing his mom’s attention, or taking his dad’s place or something like that. It had never occurred to her that this had been the status quo for as long as he should feasibly be able to remember.

Varsha flopped down onto the floor and stretched her spine. It had been a long day of harvesting yams. Hunching over had done a number on her back. Her spine popped.

“That was a loud one, Maru commented. Varsha turned her head as Maru retrieved a toilet paper-looking roll from the papers congregated around the trap door in her floor. She unrolled about two feet of it. “Sorry,” she said, “I know I’m the one who invited you here. I can keep talking as I transfer this data. It’s total idle work.”

“That’s fine,” Varsha told her. “What is that?”

“Ticker tape.” She fished a pen out from underneath the notes she had in the middle of the floor. “It can be fed into a device called a ‘scanner’ to be read by a computer. These are coordinates for different star systems,” she explained.

“Really? That’s pretty cool! It can read handwriting?”

“Not exactly. Code, expressed in series of dots. It isn’t new, either. It was mostly used in finance, back in the day.” She gazed at the ticker tape, pensieve. “I haven’t found an application for it yet, but it’s cool, old tech.”

That’s right. Maru liked that sort of stuff. Varsha ought to get her something like that for her birthday, if she could find some place in the city that didn’t charge an arm and a leg for it.

She watched as Maru looked between her notes and the ticker tape she was writing on. She wasn’t writing all that fast. She sort of seemed like she was zoning out.

“I never see him,” Maru suddenly said, shifting the subject and startling Varsha. “It’s kinda weird, isn’t it? We live in the same house, and sometimes I only see him once a month if I catch him eating lunch.” Her brother, she realized. Having brought him up earlier had upset her. The words she used were light, but it was clear she was bothered by it.

“Once a _month_?” She didn’t even live with her parents and she talked to them on the phone more often than that. “Want me to make him come up here?” All Varsha really knew about him was that he lived in Robin’ and Demetrius’s basement and only came out to see his friends on Friday nights at the one bar in town. Still, maybe he was bored and would hang out with them. Varsha rolled onto her knees, only for Maru to lean in to catch her shoulder. She was looking at her as if she had said she was going out to wrestle a bear.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What? Why? If he doesn’t want to, he can just say that and I’ll come back without him.”

“He really doesn’t like when people interrupt him when he’s working. I have a few times, and he ignores me for, like, two weeks afterward.”

Varsha raised her eyebrows.

“Doesn’t he ignore you anyway?”

“Yeah, but he’ll at least make eye contact and say ‘hi’ when he’s not actively doing it.”

“Damn.” She sat back down.

Varsha had thought of him as something of a loner, maybe even a little bit of a recluse, but she hadn’t realized the full degree to which he avoided people. Strange to think that he and Maru were raised by the same people, under the same roof and set of circumstances.

“I want to see him succeed. I really do!” Maru assured her, running her hand through her hair. “I know he works and makes good enough money, but he doesn’t seem to be thriving, you know? I’m one thing, but… he sees his friends once or twice a week, if that. You’d think he’d at least want to see Abigail a little more than-”

All at once, Maru stopped talking. She peeked at Varsha. So he liked Abigail. Was it really such a big deal?

“Uh-oh. Did you let out the deep, dark secret that your adult brother has a crush?” She made a few dramatic arm movements. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody.”

Maru laughed, then sighed.

“And neither will he.”

“What, really?”

Varsha couldn’t help but be a bit surprised. From the Flower Dance to the way Sam was so confused about Sebastian wanting her to join their two-person band, she thought those two had something going on. She at least knew they weren’t openly together. If they were, everyone in town would know, and someone would have been keen to share that juicy bit of information with her.

“Really. I get why you’re surprised, with those two being so obvious. It hurts to look at them sometimes, you know? He should go for it!”

“Yeah, totally. Those two are ridiculously compatible.”

“Because they’re both goth?” Varsha rolled her eyes.

“Come on, not _just_ that! I don’t know them that well, but, you know, they are, aren’t they?”

“They are. I’m just messing with you.”

After Maru’s confession of her concern about Sebastian, Varsha didn’t feel the need for clarification on why he hadn’t asked Abigail out. It wasn’t some huge mystery. She felt bad thinking it, but he seemed sort of like… well, he kind of _was_ … an awkward loner. She didn’t think he’d say anything, not on his own.

She rolled onto her stomach, watching as Maru went back to transferring her notes.

The _scritch scratch_ of Maru’s pen began to lull her into drowsiness, her eyelids growing heavier and heavier by the second.

Sebastian. Abigail. Abigail. Sebastian.

Sebastiagail. Abigan.

Varsha yawned.

“Getting sleepy over there?” Maru asked. Varsha mumbled and curled up in response. “Alright, then.”

Abigail was probably the one to ask him to dance back in Spring, and now she was in their little… math rock? Metal? Trance band?

They really _were_ obvious. Maybe they just needed a little push.

 

 

One of the chickens had gotten stuck in a tree again. She still had no idea how they managed to do it. They were flightless, for fuck’s sake, not that it made any difference when it came to the fact that once they were up there, they didn’t know how to get back down.

Varsha scrambled up the trunk after it.

“Okay, dummy,” she cooed. “Don’t panic and jump to another branch.” The hen clucked at her. “That’s right.” She inched toward it. “Stay right there.”

It jumped to another branch.

“Are you shitting me right now?” It clucked again. “You know what, you can stay up there until I feel like getting you,” she told it. It isn’t talking to yourself if there’s an animal nearby, she assured herself.

Varsha slid down the trunk of the tree to get to work on watering her crops. Fall was halfway over. She had made some good money this growing season, if not really on par with her old Joja salary. Still, it’s not like they had given her decent benefits or insurance, and the cost of living was so much lower out here that it hardly mattered. A massive chunk of her expenses were cut the day she moved.

Pelican Town had one bar, which also just so happened to be the only restaurant, the only community gathering place, and the only place for recreation that wasn’t outside or in someone’s house. Well, technically not even that. She was pretty sure Gus lived upstairs.

The point stood. If there weren’t any real amenities to spend money on to hang with your buds, all she could do was save or reinvest into the farm. She had budgeted a significant amount of her gold to going out when she had first moved here, less than she had in the city, of course, but enough to have a good time. She hadn’t expected to be able to hire Robin to build the chicken coop until the following year. Already, Varsha had almost made back the gold she had paid her to build it from the egg and mayonnaise profits.

It was Wednesday. She could afford a single day off to break up the crop-watering and chicken wrangling. It wasn’t even eleven, so clearly the one option in town that wasn’t fishing or collecting shells was out, or at least not socially acceptable.

Varsha went into her house and wiped the dust from her face and neck with a wet washcloth. Maru had work, and she had shown up there enough times for Harvey to start giving her the stink eye when she sat on the welcome desk. She didn’t know why; there were no patients for her to disturb.

Aside from Maru, the only person in town she was close enough to that wouldn’t call her out for taking a day off was Sam. He was a pretty fun guy to be around, all in all. He had a more familiar vibe than almost everyone else in town, who seemed, for lack of a better descriptor, so aggressively friendly that she was worried they wanted to harvest her organs.

Varsha changed her shirt to something with considerably less farm grit on it and took the short walk into town. Sam’s mom’s house was on the closer side, so she wouldn’t need to get too much additional exercise.

Red, yellow, and orange leaves littered the cobble of the square. The occasional breath of wind whipped them into mini cyclones, rustling as they came back to rest on the earth. Jodi was looking at them, too, as she talked across her fence to Caroline.

“Hello,” Varsha called to them, having learned a while back that if she didn’t sometimes initiate greetings, she was apparently perpetuating her image of being a detached city slicker. They smiled and called their hellos right back to her. “I see you two talking across that fence all nonchalant.” She crossed her arms. “What happened?”

A cat-like smile stretched across Caroline’s face. Ooooh. This was going to be good.

“Well,” she said, preparing herself for the rush of words that would follow, “You didn’t hear this from me, but,” she paused for dramatic effect, “Marnie was told by Evelyn that she saw Demetrius checking out a book about step-parenting from the library.”

Varsha considered this for a moment.

“Really? Hasn’t he been a stepdad for, what, twenty years at this point?”

“Twenty-one,” Caroline corrected with a certain relish. Jodi sighed. “What? Don’t act like you’re above this.”

“I’m not acting,” she said airily. Caroline raised a brow.

“Oh really? Says the woman who said not five minutes ago that she could always tell that there was a lot of resentment in Robin’s family.”

“Caroline!” Jodi cried, face going red. Varsha laughed.

“Don’t worry,” she said, “My lips are sealed.”

“Like Caroline’s were supposed to be?” Jodi asked, shooting her a look that Caroline chose to ignore. Varsha sucked her lips in and smiled. Jodi sighed. “Fine. I should’ve been prepared for it to reach the whole town the moment I said anything in her presence.”

They all laughed.

“Mom?” Varsha turned to see Sam with his skateboard underneath his arm.

“What is it, Sam?”

“Hey Sam.”

“Hey Varsha,” he replied. “I finished picking up the living room, so I’m heading out.” Jodi nodded approvingly.

“I’m happy to see you taking a little more initiative with your chores.”

“ _Mom_ ,” he said through clenched teeth. “You don’t have to call them chores, I’m not a kid anymore.”

“Sorry. Sometimes I forget my little Sam is all grown up!” She beamed.

“Mom!”

“Sam!” He bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, not wanting to disturb the styled hair on top of his head.

“I’m going now.”

“Alright. Be safe!” He started to walk off. “I know it’s his hobby, but I worry about him getting injured when he does that,” she confided.

“Want me to go with him and make sure he doesn’t get too scraped up?” Varsha offered jokingly.

“Would you?” Jodi asked, sounding relieved. Varsha wasn’t entirely sure what she would do if he wiped out, except maybe have a laugh. Well, she was going to hang out with Sam anyway. Couldn’t hurt.

“Sure. He’ll get back home in one piece if I have anything to say about it.”

She waved her goodbyes and jogged to catch up with Sam.

“You wanted to come with?” he asked.

“I’m actually on Sam Defense Duty, in case you skin your knee.” Varsha gave a bow. “You’re welcome.”

“Actually?” he asked. They walked up towards the fountain on the north side of town.

“Yep, actually and truly.” He looked as embarrassed at that as at being called his mom’s little Sam. She cut him some slack.

“How’s band practice going?” He lit up.

“Great! We’re starting to develop an actual sound now. You know, other than shit.” She chuckled. “I was thinking we could record a demo tape soon.”

“That sounds awesome! Have you got equipment?”

“We’d have to save some money between the three of us to rent studio space in the city for a few hours if we don’t want it to sound like a hot mess. That ain’t cheap, you know?”

“Mm, I believe it.” The fountain came into view, and Varsha sprawled out on a bench, stretching her arms across the back.

“Sebastian’s got the higher salary of the three of us, but I don’t want to put him out more than me or Abigail. The band’s more of a fun side project for those two, and I’m pretty sure he’s saving to move out.” Sam became aware of what he was saying and shook his head. “But now I’m going on. What brings you out here? Not that I mind the company!”

He attempted a kickflip and failed.

“Just a change of pace, you know? For a farmer, I don’t have a lot of patience.”

Moving out of the city was certainly different. It was a kind of adventure, in a way. _Living_ in the country, that wasn’t quite the same thing. There was a strange sort of fun to knowing everyone’s business, but even that got old after a while. So what if Sebastian hated his stepdad? More people had family issues than not.

What was really interesting to her was how he refused to just ask that girl out. They hurt to watch. And _that_ , that was something Varsha could do something about. She could help.

“Sam,” Varsha said. “What do you do for fun around here?”

“Skating and playing guitar, pretty much,” he said. “Hobby stuff. You have to be pretty self-reliant for entertainment in the valley.” He tried for another kickflip.

“No, but like, when you _do_ have other people around. What then?”

He furrowed his brow and looked up, then snapped, grinning.

“Me and my friends do get together every Friday to shoot some pool at the Stardrop! You should come with us this time!”

There it was.

“That sounds great,” she said. “I haven’t played in ages, so I’ll probably suck, if that’s alright.” He laughed.

“No worries. I do, too. Don’t tell my friends I admitted it, though!”

“Haha! Wouldn’t dream of it, man.”

Varsha lounged and laughed as Sam practiced his board tricks and joked with her until the early afternoon. Sebastian must be awake by now. If she wanted to scope out that situation before Friday, this was a good time to do it.

“I’ve got some business I gotta wrap up today. See you Friday?”

“For sure! Swing by around seven. We usually start pretty early.”

Seven on a Friday? Varsha wasn’t about to call him out on it, so she agreed.

“Cool. I’ll see you then.” She stood, dusted herself off, and walked off in the direction of Maru’s place.

The autumn wind moaned through the broken windows of the old community center. Varsha looked up at it, suddenly, perhaps irrationally, fearful of the sound of the creaking boards within. That building would collapse one day, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near it when it did.

The clock, permanently stuck at 12:24, seemed to have more ivy choking its hands than the last time she passed it by. She hurried past, kicking up dust as she went.

A wholly different sort of building lay ahead of her; the blue roof of 24 Mountain Road rose up above the treetops. Varsha could see the tips of the aerials Maru and Demetrius had installed above her room. They served as points of reference on the dirt road that lead out of town. She had gotten lost once or twice on the way when she had first moved. Like a radio signal, they picked her up and led her there.

The woods that were barely contained by wooden fences opened into the clearing before the front door. She wiped her feet of the sawdust mixed with dry dirt that had settled all around their house on their welcome mat. Varsha opened the door to find Robin, blank-faced, resting her cheek upon her palm at the counter she had set up.

“Varsha!” she said, lifting her head. “Looking to build a barn? Expand your house?”

“Not today, Robin. No business at all today, actually. I’m taking a day off.” Robin stretched her arms behind her neck.

“I oughta try that at some point. There’s no real use in me being open full business hours. I’m thinking of taking off some hours to get back into cabinetmaking, start stocking a little more furniture, you know? It’d do me good to get outside, get off my ass a little more between projects. Sitting here all day is a silent killer.”

“Want to trade with me?” Varsha offered.

Robin laughed.

“No thanks. I think I’ll take sitting over waking up before dawn to get cracking on manual labor each day. So, you stopped by to chat? Maru’s still at work.”

“That’s alright. I thought I’d pop in and say hi to Sebastian this time.” Cool. Casual. Still, Robin looked unusually happy to hear it. A girl, going to talk to her son of her own volition?

Maybe that was a bit harsh.

“He can be a bit shy, but I’m sure he’d be thrilled to have a few more friends!” Robin sat back and gestured to the staircase in the next room over. “Go right in. He might be working, but it should be fine. He still hasn’t eaten breakfast.”

Varsha descended the stairs and gave a soft knock on the door. She waited.

No response.

She knocked again, a little more sharply this time.

Again, nothing.

Oh well. She had announced herself. She opened the door into pitch darkness and was hit with a sudden dank aroma. A tired groan came from the other side of the room.

“Cluzzzuormom.” Varsha heard him shift and mutter.

“I’m not your mom.” She carefully picked her way over to the source of the noise, wishing she had a flashlight to see the books scattered on the floor. He was a lot like Maru in that sense. Or, being the older one, Maru was a lot like him?

“It’s almost two in the afternoon, buddy. Up and at ‘em.” Varsha pulled the black blanket away from his face. He immediately grabbed the pillow his head wasn’t on and used that to block out the light instead.

“Doo bite.”

“If it’s too bright, just face the wall. Come on, your eyes will adjust in five seconds.” More groans met her in response to that. She waited, held the corner of his pillow, then ripped it away in one motion.

That seemed to wake him up a bit more.

“What the hell?” he asked. “Who are…? Wait, you’re Maru’s friend.”

“Yeah, and I have a name, too.”

“Um…” He rubbed his temples. “Varsha?” She plopped down on his bed next to his legs.

“That’s right, even if you did say it like a question. What, you don’t remember me?” She framed her face with both her hands. “I’m hurt. After all those times you waited to get food to avoid talking to me when Maru and I were in the kitchen.”

“Why are you here?” He asked, still sounding tired.

“I’m glad you asked,” she said. “I’m here to help.”

Finally, he opened his eyes further than a squint. His black hair was in total disarray from sleep and his entire face was set in a deep frown.

“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Not yet, you don’t.” Varsha stood again, walking over to his desk. “Up late working?” she asked.

“What…? I mean, yeah. I guess.” She sat down in front of his computer, trying to see by the minimal light from the door if there were any photos or other bits of evidence of his crush. Most of it looked like posters of demons and metal bands.

“That’s admirable. Sorry I woke you up.” She looked into an open drawer without moving anything. Cassettes, a lighter, a few packs of cigarettes and VHS tapes.

“No, you aren’t.” Sebastian rolled back over and pulled up his blanket.

“Ah, ah, ah!” she said, coming back over to him and pulling his blanket off entirely. He was dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, both black. “We’re waking up today.”

He shot her a murderous look.

“Did Maru put you up to this? My mom?”

“No one did. I put myself up to it. Like I said, I want to help. I saw something I couldn’t just leave alone.” She wagged her finger. “There’s nothing sadder in this world than when two people obviously like each other and keep missing connections.”

Sebastian narrowed his eyes.

“... Are you like a stalker or something?”

“What? No! I meant you and Abigail!” Varsha felt herself getting flustered. “Come on, man, I don’t go for guys who are gunning for someone else.” Fortunately, the mention of Abigail was enough to throw him off balance. He was still lying on his bed, but was now staring pointedly away from her, at the wall.

Finally, he said, “I don’t like Abigail.” Seriously?

“You’re lying. That was a terrible, obvious lie. It took you like ten minutes to say that.” He went quiet again.

“So Maru was the one to put you up to this.”

“Not at all. You think she would do something like that?”

And Maru hadn’t exactly _put her up to it_. Maybe she had loose lips about his love life, but it was Varsha’s decision. Still, the very fact that he had made the connection between her knowing about his crush and Maru made her wonder. Varsha doubted they had the sort of relationship where he would confide in her.

“I don’t know. It’s possible.”

“Well, she didn’t. Let’s not get too bogged down by that and focus on something else. Something that’ll be helpful.” She looked around. “Do you have any windows I can open?”

“No.”

“‘No,’ you don’t have any, or ‘no,’ you won’t tell me, because if I open them it’ll be too bright?”

“Both.”

Varsha’s eyes had adjusted, and she took in the the room. It was dark, and not just because of the lack of windows. The walls were dark cinder block and maple. It wasn’t just his bed that was black, but also his nightstand, the upholstery of his couch, and most of his posters. Abigail might be into that, though. Who knows? Varsha would have to get a better read on her first.

“You know,” she said. “I don’t think you’ve got an image problem. Physically, I mean.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly.

“Have you ever tried asking her out?” This made him bristle.

“One, I still haven’t developed a thing for Abigail since you asked ten minutes ago, and two, even if I had tried, do you really think I would tell you?”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh, so that’s a ‘no.’” More grumbles. “Why not? I think there’s a pretty damn good chance she’d agree to it.”

He stopped answering her, opting to pretend she wasn’t talking instead. She kept right on.

“You know what I think you need?” No answer. “I think you need a little confidence boost. There’s nothing sexier than confidence.”

“That probably means I’m the least sexy man alive,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Does that mean you’ll give up and leave now?”

“Nope.” Varsha pulled a comic book down from one of his bookshelves and made herself comfortable on his couch as she flipped through it. A knight with a massive greataxe and a window in her armor to expose her cleavage lopped the head of a werewolf clean off.

“Look, you can borrow that. I have work. I work from home. Can you respect that, at least?”

“I’ll leave if you acknowledge that you like Abigail.”

She looked over the top of the comic book at him. The gears appeared to be turning in his head. Say it sarcastically? Admit it? Refuse? Varsha knew that if he didn’t at least take this most important first step, she wouldn’t be getting anywhere.

“No.”

“You won’t acknowledge it?” she asked.

“Not even that.”

Varsha sighed. So he was one of those people.

“There are two options here. Either you aren’t saying it so you can backpedal, or you really, truly, don’t have feelings for her. Tell me in so many words, ‘I don’t have any feelings for Abigail whatsoever.’” She looked him right in the eye. “If I’m satisfied, I’ll leave without pushing one second more.”

When she put it like that, of course he said it.

But it wasn't the way she had. He looked and sounded like something painful was being extracted from his throat when he did.

And that, that was good enough.

 

 

Friday night. It had been a while since Varsha had the opportunity to break out her old weekend clothes. She had gone straight from smart, sensible shirts, slacks, and skirts to flannel and jeans. If it hadn’t been paired with muddy work boots and worn gloves, she might have passed for a grunge rocker these days.

It was half an hour until she was supposed to meet up with Sam’s crew. With luck, he wouldn’t have mentioned it to Sebastian. His guard was way up. Sure, she could have handled first contact a little more tactfully, but hey, the guy would have to learn to roll with the punches if he was going to get anywhere with dating.

She locked up, leaving her cat to guard the place.

“Don’t let any strangers in, all right? I don’t care if they have fish.” Oliver purred in response. “I’m familiar with the adorable act, don’t you forget that!”

Varsha made her way to the bar, the singular bar, and enjoyed that on this one night a week, there was some level of human noise that she could experience. Half the town was crowded into the bar and dining room, talking, laughing, a few hidden into nooks along the walls drinking alone. Air currents pulled the low-hanging cloud of cigarette smoke out into the town behind her.

She approached the bar and caught Emily’s attention.

“What’s on tap tonight?” she asked over the noise.

“Miller, Coors, and Guinness!” she shouted back.

“I’ll just get a G and T!” Emily nodded and disappeared to the rows of liquor in the back.

Varsha cast her gaze to the next room over. She could just barely hear the crack of two pool balls colliding. She saw a few bright blonde spikes: the top of Sam’s hair. There was no way he was alone, at least.

“Gin and tonic,” Emily called. Varsha scooped it up, the condensation chilling her hand.

Dodging the other patrons, she maneuvered over to the games room. Sam was closest to the entrance, Sebastian stood on the far side of the pool table chalking up his cue, and Abigail sat on the couch, watching them.

“Varsha!” Sam called happily. “You made it!”

“Of course! Thanks for inviting me!” She hugged him with one arm. A shadow passed over Sebastian’s face as he recognized her. “Hey,” she greeted him. “Hey, Abigail.”

Abigail tilted her head up and cocked her thumb at the armchair adjacent to where she was sitting.

“Wanna sit with me until they’re done with this round?”

“Yeah, I gotta make a dent in this before I really show off my talents. Gotta limber up.” Varsha took a long drink from her glass, making Sam and Abigail hoot and cheer. Sebastian looked off to the side.

“Don’t mind him,” Abigail said. “He only drinks if he can also feel like a viking.” Varsha laughed.

“What? What the hell does that mean?”

“He drinks mead out of a horn,” Sam said, leaning on his cue. “Seriously, he has a silver-banded drinking horn in his room. But he’s allowed his idiosyncrasies. We love him all the same.”

“Idiosyncrasies, huh?” Sebastian walked around to Sam’s side of the table, lined up a shot, and sank two striped balls. Every solid ball except two were still on the table. Sam wasn’t lying about his skill level to make her feel better, it seemed.

“Come ooon, man!” Sam pulled a face. “You know I didn’t mean it!”

“Yeah, I know.” Sebastian let an easy smile spread across his face. Varsha hadn’t seen it before. Maybe he wasn’t so shy, after all. Then again, these were probably friends he had for a long time, and that posed challenges of its own.

She leaned back into her chair and glanced over at Abigail. She was taking sips of her beer, occasionally chuckling at the antics between Sam and Sebastian.

“How is it that you all got to know each other, anyway?” Abigail turned to her, eyes wide.

“How do we know each other?” She and Sam laughed and Sebastian chuckled.

“What?”

Abigail’s giggles subsided first.

“We live in a town with under a hundred people. I’d be shocked if we _didn’t_ know each other.”

“You know what I meant. Became friends.”

At this Sam chimed in.

“They knew each other before me. I’m actually from Zuzu City originally.” Varsha perked up.

“No way! Whereabouts?”

“Kirkville. I went to PS 27 for middle school. I moved here halfway through with my parents. That’s when I met Sebastian and Abigail.” Varsha looked between the two of them.

“Were they friends back then, too?”

“Yeah, since they were little kids!” Sebastian grumbled. “They were cool, though. Even though I was the new kid and had the bad luck to move into the tiniest of the tiny remote towns that went to the local middle school, they still hung out with me.”

“Aw, Sam. You’re in a mushy mood today,” Abigail teased.

“That’s because you guys are my friends and I love you.” Sebastian made a face. “Yes, that means you, too. I luuuurve you!”

Abigail laughed. “Sam, you’re overloading his emotional circuits.” Varsha couldn’t help her own chuckle. She finished off the rest of her drink.

“You guys are almost done with your round, right? I’m just going to top off and come back so we can switch out.” Abigail promised not to let the guys start another one before she got back.

Varsha watched them from the bar as Emily mixed her another drink.

Sam appeared to have left for the bathroom. Abigail was comparing the sizes and weights of the pool cues from a rack on the far wall. Sebastian was on the same side of the table as the vending machines and arcade games, backlit by their ambient glow. He had just finished resetting the balls for Varsha and Abigail’s game.

It was obvious that he was looking at her.

The expression on his face was a lot softer than any she had seen on it before. Not like the tired grimace or the frustrated glare, the uncomfortable blank look when he was forced to acknowledge her presence in his house, or even the smile from earlier from when he joked with his friends.

See, that was the kind of face he should be showing her. Not when her back was turned, but when she was looking straight at him. That was the face Abigail could fall for, Sebastian! You just needed to show her.

Emily came back with her drink, of which she took an immediate swig.

“Aren’t those two cute together?” Varsha swallowed and asked, gesturing at them. They looked even cuter through the fog of her slight buzz. Emily looked out over the crowd. “I’m going to set them up,” she announced, full of bravado. Emily pat her on the shoulder.

“Alright,” she said, “But don’t get too disappointed if it doesn’t work out how you want. The threads of fate are often more tangled and complicated than we expect.”

Varsha’s shoulders shook with the laugh she hid from Emily. Threads of fate. If that’s what it was about, wasn’t Varsha a little like a puppeteer? No. A spy. No! A matchmaker. No, no! A really cool friend who made them happy. Yeah.

She slid back over to the pool table, grabbing the first pool cue she set eyes on. She lost by a mile, but she didn’t care.

Tonight had gone great.

Her good shoes clacked across the cobble of the square. She had head out a few minutes after the rest of the group, hoping Sebastian might offer to walk Abigail home. If he had, he had made it back to the side of the bar in record time for a smoke.

“Hey,” he said to her. “Were you happy with the results of your little data collection mission or whatever?”

Varsha recalled the look on his face in the blue light. She slapped a hand onto his shoulder and grinned.

“Very happy.”

“Well, I’m even more drained than after most nights like this.” He tapped the end of his cigarette. Varsha watched as the ash and embers fell to the ground.

“Damn, dude. You two were out here for three minutes. You gotta work on your stamina for her.” He pointed at her with his cigarette.

“I’m gonna ignore that.”

She saw a little smirk, though. See? Sebastian could do this. _Varsha_ could do this.

It was exactly as she had thought. A little push from her was all they needed.

**Author's Note:**

> I can only see this going well.


End file.
